They only have to step out their own back door to find themselves in a paradise. Adjacent to an upper patio, gold, silver, orange and black koi flash their iridescent colors in a water lily-accented pond with a water-jet fountain. Alongside that same patio is the head of a small stream that twists down the hillside creating a series of tiny waterfalls as it cascades over strategically placed rocks; appears to course under an arched bridge, and eventually find its watery way into a stone-surrounded recreation pond suitable for swimming.
Providing a perfect vantage point to enjoy the pond, a stone peninsula juts out between an additional waterfall that is separate from the stream. It spills into a water-plant-filled lagoon and eventually the pond itself, bringing the soothing sound of rushing water from a different direction. A thatched umbrella and Adirondak chairs offer the perfect spot to listen, relax and take in the setting.
At the base of the stream an expansive, stone-floored lower patio, complete with an arbor-covered, tiki-style bar, outdoor television, crocheted rope swing and mosaic-covered chess table create an entertainment space for homeowners Cherie and Michael to gather with family, that includes six grandchildren, and friends. At night, strings of twinkling lights illuminate the area and make it look “just like a Christmas tree,” Cherie notes.
For the couple, the project, which began just over a year ago, was the culmination of a lifetime of interest in water features and gardening. At a previous home in Clayton, they had two do-it-yourself ponds, created by digging out the pond area itself and dropping in a liner. When they moved to a ranch home in Chesterfield 11 years ago, their 1.3-acre lot allowed them to expand their interest in water features.
In Chesterfield, as well as a koi pond, Michael dug out a cobblestone-lined waterfall and stream that flowed just outside the windows of the couple’s bedroom and part way down a hillside. It terminated at a dry stream bed he also created. Working in stages, he lengthened the stream throughout the years, “lugging the cobblestones myself.”
Cherie, who had just retired as an art teacher, used her now unscheduled days to indulge in her passion for gardening. She had always had a vegetable garden at her home in Clayton. “One of the reasons we liked this
house,” she explains, “is that there were five raised garden beds with irrigation already in them and a lot of space to expand.”
She also began landscaping around the koi pond and the stream. “I think gardening is just another art expression for me,” she says. “A garden is a blank canvas. I can create what I want and when it is all finished, it looks like a painting. I’m always changing things; splitting plants when they get too big. It’s fun. Every time I go to the store to look for one thing, I come back with a bunch of plants.”
During the course of working with their original pond and stream, the couple got to know Jeff Streibig, owner of Missouri Pond Company, who cleaned out their pond and immediately discovered where a leak in the waterfall originated. “He found the leak, boom!” recalls Michael. “People like that you want to work with.”
When the couple realized they were spending more and more time in their own back yard and they wanted to expand and tie together their various water features, they knew the task was beyond them. They turned to Jeff to create their backyard haven. “They wanted something really nice back there,” Jeff says.
Creating just what that “really nice” landscape would look like was a joint project. Michael and Cherie traveled with Jeff to
Earthworks Stone in Perryville to select the major rocks that would become a part of the 180,000 pounds of stone that would go into their landscape. It was a task Michael relished. “All my life I’ve been involved with the Ozarks,” he notes. “I’ve always admired the rock formations and the way water flows around them. I got to go with Jeff and pick out the boulders and create a bit of the Ozarks in Chesterfield.”
"When it comes to picking out rocks, you are looking for the coolest stuff you can find within the size limit you can work with,” Jeff explains. “The bigger the better and the most unique the better.” Curved rocks catch his eye as do rocks that resemble petrified wood and those with a great deal of texture. “If I find a really neat boulder, that’s coming back with us. I have actually changed a design to accommodate it. I’ve also stopped a project to look for a different rock if I don’t have something that works.” Assimilated into Cherie and Michael’s new landscape, which covers approximately a quarter of an acre, are a 3,000-pound rock the couple nicknamed the alligator and a 3,500 pound rock they call the dinosaur.
In preparation for the project, which began in September 2022, the couple, with the help of Gabriel Landscaping, dug up perennials and shrubs in the previous landscape and stored them in pots and in burlap while the construction took place. “It was a fun project to work on,” says Jeff. “We had plants everywhere. And we bandied ideas back and forth.”
“Michael made lunch every day for the workers,” Cherie recalls. “They became like family. We repurposed everything we could.” The workers used dirt that was excavated in the creation of the recreation pond and longer stream to make the backyard slope more gradual. Cobblestones from the original waterfall and stream became part of the front yard landscaping as did a rock-like fountain that had previously been on the back patio. Stones from that patio became part of the pathways in the garden.
As soon as one part of the new hardscape was complete, Cherie began installing the plants that had previously been in pots and burlap. “I was planting while they were still digging,” she says with a laugh. Roses, daylilies, sedums, hydrangeas went back into the ground. In preparation for the spring of 2023, Cherie tucked daffodil bulbs into the new landscape.
“It was crazy,” Jeff remembers. “Cherie and Gabriel were right behind us, finishing and making sure everything got planted. It looked like it had been there for years.”
Cherie continues to spend most of each day working in her garden, which includes extensive vegetable plots. “When it gets too hot, I go inside and paint,” she says with a laugh.
The project has turned out to be just what the couple was hoping for. They have expanded their interest in water features by becoming members of the Gateway Koi and Pond Club. “Water is part of nature and we wanted nature in our back yard,” Michael explains. “We really didn’t want to make any big trips later in our lives. We wanted something that would allow us to relax at home. You can spend a lot of money on trips. If you spend it in your own back yard, it is money well spent value-wise.”
